Round the World Goes
by Demeter1
Summary: A partial moment in a peculiar family. Akito, post-manga.


**"Round the World Goes"  
**

**Demeter**

**Series:** Fruits Basket  
**Pairing/Character:** Sohma Akito  
**Word Count:** 1,983 words.  
**Warnings:** Set post-end.  
**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket_ does not belong to me. Alas.

**Summary:** One partial moment in a peculiar family.

**Notes:** Unbetaed. This isn't exactly whole. It's a bit of an experimentation. I'm testing my post-manga!Akito out and seeing what voice I'd give her. This short piece is what turned up; I'm still working on the kinks of her character and I'd like to explore what it's like for Akito in her future, so this is like some weird universe that's not dominated by much of anything but mundane happenings.

Yay for mundane!

* * *

_Why do I even bother?_ Akito thinks before she huffs a mental sigh. She marks the page in her book and shuts it.

The air is taut and tight and personally, the day is stroking up to be one of those nasty ones where nothing goes right. Already, she's had to face Ren over sleeping with one of the local houseboys. He's threatening harassment if he's not properly compensated, and Akito _almost_ wants the days when Hatori could knead a mind until there wasn't even a bead of memory left.

She looks longingly at her book (fantastic read, she loves the way the author dips into the badlands of the so-called Death Valley, a place she sees and feels in her head, and it's such a mysterious difference from places like New York and Seattle) but knows Hiro needs her right now.

So she walks into the hallway from her hidden alcove and startles Suzume, who is currently dressing Hiro down for the way he dresses, his way of talking back, his mother's lack of dignity, and anything else that annoys her.

Which is everything, if Akito knows anything about Suzume. And while she wants, above all, to keep peace in her fragile family, she's not about to let the woman berate her younger cousin like that.

Akito gives Suzume a level look that puts the old maid on the defensive and she can see kimono-clad shoulders square up for a fight. She inserts herself not-quite-in-between the two and asks Hiro, as pleasantly as she can muster, "How was your day, Hiro?"

He shrugs, sullen. "Fine, I guess." His elfin features are like a thundercloud and Akito's appearance still darkens it on some days. Like this one. _It really is just going to be a __**fantastic**__ day_, Akito groans silently.

"That's good to hear. Are you going to participate on the student council?" Akito tries to keep up on the major events of her younger family members, and it proves a win when Hiro glances at her with surprise in his eyes. "I think your... your mother mentioned it to me a few days ago." She's also been forcing herself to talk to as many women as she can, especially the mamas. Hiro's mom is especially enthusiastic, so it's a little easier. Just a bit.

Hiro looks at his feet. "Maybe, if Kisa does it too."

A spasm jerks Akito's hand when Kisa's name comes up, and the tide of guilt still sours her stomach, but she's had a while to deal with this and Akito tamps it down with a firm grip and twist. "I think the two of you would do a good job." The compliment almost comes easily.

Hiro nods without looking up and Akito takes a mental breath and then faces off with Suzume. "Suzume, I think Hiro has homework to do." She pauses and then tries on a friendly smile. "And I have some things I'd like to talk to you about the household budget this year."

It's just a ploy to get Suzume away from Hiro, but she really does have things to talk about. Akito just doesn't want to. She's taken to Shigure's tactics of avoidance and it's fun to hide in the massive estate and wager with herself in how long it takes people to find her when she doesn't want to be found.

An involuntary twitch of Suzume's nose is all that betrays her irritation. "Very well, Master Akito." Akito flinches; it can't be helped. She wishes Suzume would stop doing that. "And it's time for us to have a discussion in regards to your recent authorization of several debts. They were incurred by Sohma Ritsu and his ridiculous plans to attend an university in England."

Akito inwardly curses. She's forgotten she'd done that.

She turns to Hiro and smiles. "Hiro, go and tell Momiji I won't be meeting him for dinner today. Please," she tacks on to the end. The younger boy looks suspicious and rightly so. This is going to be an uphill battle of epic proportions if Akito's not careful. "And do convince Kisa to be on the student council. I'm sure the two of you will have fun."

The teen hesitates and then walks off, glancing backwards every once in a while until he turns a corner and disappears.

"I see you are getting along with your cousins." Suzume makes the flat observation, a slightly nasal twang to her words. "How well, Master Akito." Leave it to her to make an observation sound accusatory.

Akito ignores her words, knows it is partly bait and asks, "What were you saying about Ritsu?"

In answer, Suzume turns on her heels and Akito forces her heavy legs to follow. The two enter Akito's private study, still a vision of dark woods and somber colors. There is not much in it excepting a massive, overbearing desk with a three-paneled front. Each depicts a different scene in the Zodiac story and while exquisitely carved, the icy stillness lent the figures an emotionless severity that the flat wood only emphasizes. It hardly lends the room any warmth.

A chair that came from Akira's time and several bookcases that were mostly comprised of law, Sohma family etiquette, and a series of family histories and timelines. Akito hardly spends any time here anymore and would have had it stripped. But Suzume prefers it so Akito is resigned to using it for the rest of her life. _Not a cheering thought_, she thinks.

"As you will see, there have been a total of five expenditures that you have authorized for Sohma Ritsu." Suzume opens the top file of a stack a foot tall and runs a long, wrinkled finger down the list of meticulously recorded numbers. "Each indicates a payment to an Edinburgh University in England."

Akito clears a space from the desk and sits down into her leather chair. "Yes. Those are payments for tuition, board, and two bank deposits for expenses."

Suzume arches an eyebrow and waits.

Akito presses her lips together.

"I see. And why, if I may ask?"

She shrugs. "Ritsu wishes to go to a University in England. That is all."

"It's expensive. What precisely does young Master Ritsu plan on studying?" Suzume plays a mocking tone when she refers to Ritsu as 'young master' and Akito stirs in semi-irritation.

"He is studying world history."

"He cannot do that here? We can have him enter Tokyo University. He can even bypass the exams if he cannot pass them." Suzume cocks her head. "And why... why, precisely, did you authorize this?"

A bug is climbing on the outside of the windowpane. Akito stares at it, wondering how old it is. "It was his wish. I wanted to respect that." The sunlight is hitting the glass and throwing dapples of light across the floor.

"By letting him run away?"

Akito is quick to retort. "He's not running away. He's merely exercising a choice he made a long time ago." The courage it must have taken for Ritsu to talk to her, Akito does not take it lightly. She will see him to his university if she has to take on her entire family. Well, minus twelve or so members.

"It's an unnecessary expenditure." Suzume points to a graph in the folder. "You will have to dip into your own funds."

"Okay." Akito shrugs. It's not as if she doesn't have any money. On the contrary, the last year has been particularly fruitful with the investments made using the private fund left to her by Akira.

Suzume puts the folder onto the desk with a sense of force and a sound that betrays her anger. "You cannot keep doing this Master Akito. The family has enormous expenditures already. You should not go around saying yes to every little request for money."

The word 'should' makes a cold fist clench around her heart. "Perhaps I shouldn't, but I can and so I will. Paying for a few trifles will not endanger our family's finances." Akito wishes Shigure was here. "I think we can trim the number of maids we have. And..." Akito pauses. She didn't want to bring this up, not now, but she'd been mulling the possibility over the last month. "And I've decided that the stipends of the families who are not performing up to expectation, will be cut."

Apparently, Suzume is more shocked by this than anything else. Her eyes narrow and she hisses, "These are the pillar members of the Sohma family."

She resists the urge to roll her eyes. "I am not saying we will cut them off. They are, after all, family. But, perhaps," she hedges, "we should have all stipends reevaluated. Some may end up with more, some with less. It will depend on their performance. And, I'd like them to file quarterly progress reports." Akito finds that she enjoys the word 'quarterly progress reports'. It sounds more interesting than _I'll be keeping an eye on you._

And this means she'll be able to slash the stipend of Kyo's father without any suspicion. He is notoriously useless.

Suzume is aghast; a vein twitches at her throat. "Did Master Shigure put you up to this?"

"Of course not."

"You think I would believe that you thought of all this yourself?"

Akito shrugs again. "Yes, well..."

"This is preposterous, Master Akito. We have centuries of tradition in this household. To turn them on their head... it's an abomination!" Suzume crosses to the window, her geta clogs clacking against the wooden floor. "You would be playing into Ren's hand, Master Akito. She's long wanted the destruction of our foundations. Her supporters would use this as a sign of your weakening mind. Do you want to be her mere tool?"

"Ren didn't think of this, and if she did..." Akito hesitates. And amends. "I'd agree with her."

Suzume whirls around and shouts, "You would jeopardize everything I have worked so hard to protect?" She is shaking so hard her obi literally quivers. Gray hair has escaped her impeccable bun and Akito is fascinated in a perverse way.

Akito wishes things could be different. But if wishes were horses... "I have made up my mind, Suzume. I'm sorry." She watches the other woman's face with careful nonchalance. There is a long, muted silence and Akito fiddles with the sleeves of her white shirt. She notes that the wrists are a bit grubby from her morning walk and the bit of weeding she'd done. Maybe she'd switch to something sleeveless for once.

_But another day. Not today._

The older woman is still but for a few more minutes before she turns on her heel and walks out, anger in every sharp clatter of her geta. Akito waits for the door to slam, but Suzume is too well-bred for that. The door slides shut with a soft thud and Akito is free to lean back in her chair and contemplate the graying ceiling. She stays motionless for several minutes - she counts four - before stirring and taking a deep breath. _It could have been worse,_ she reassures herself.

As she leaves her study to dust again, she looks herself over in one of the hallway mirrors. Akito pinches the wan hollows of her cheeks - she still can't gain much weight, even with all the food Ayame shoves down her throat - until they're a soft, abused pink. She tries a smile on for size and while it's still a bit rusty from disuse, she likes the way it creases the corners of her eyes and how her eyes suddenly brighten.

_It's going to be okay_, she muses.

Akito walks back to her alcove and abandoned book. She looks out the window and over the waning sun of the Sohma estate and thinks, _everything's going to be okay, someday._ She settles back into Death Valley, the biting heat, and a seemingly endless desert.

- fin -


End file.
